The challenge
Harvesting fruits such as pears and apples has not yet been automated and is very time and labor intensive.
Pears and apples, in fact, are harvested by hand to avoid damaging the fruits and to classify them correctly.
Our Solution: HAP
HAP is the fruit-picking machine developed and patented by 9-tech: fully automated, it does not damage the fruit and is more cost-effective than existing alternatives.
Competitive advantages
Low dependence on human labor
Reduced fruit damage
Medium investment cost
Medium complexity of planting
9-tech’s solution combines the strengths of existing solutions(scalability, automation) while overcoming existing limitations.
HAP is the practical and scalable alternative for automating fresh fruit picking.
Labor cost
Manual harvesting is one of the most costly steps in the process, accounting for 40 to 60 percent of the total cost of production because apples and pears require selective harvesting, often through multiple, labor-intensive steps.
Economic benefit of automation
Considering 250 to 350 working hours per hectare of cultivation and a cost of €18 to €25/h, full automation can generate an approximate gross savings of €4500 to €8750 per hectare in harvesting costs.
Level of technological development:
TRL 6 | Prototype designed and under construction
Business model
Agricultural equipment manufacturers
Markets
Estimated Italian market:
1500 pear and apple harvesting machines
Scaling Italy – Europe (share ~15 – 20%), total addressable market: 7000 – 10000 machines
Project timeline
Become our partner
Get your company on the team, join us to scale and commercialize this new technology!
